This Social Discovery Platform Bridges Online-Offline Retail Experience, Drives Reverse Showrooming

Are you a die-hard offline shopper scouting every mall and outlet in search of the next best thing? Or an online shopaholic who swears by all things e-com and never sets her foot outside the digital domain? Either way, you miss out on a lot when it comes to product discovery, convenience and curated/customised shopping experience. Even in a physical store, one doesn’t have access to the full inventory or may hit the out-of-stock button and that would limit the shopping experience. As for e-shopping, you only get to see what’s up on the site and not what you are looking for.

If these anomalies have plagued you for long, take a deep breath and move on to 3otherthings.com, a social platform that aims to change the way the world discovers and consumes products and lifestyle content. The Mumbai-based firm was set up in March this year but the site became fully operational only in October.

The business concept is pretty unique – an online communication platform, which connects customers and physical retailers, although e-commerce sites can also register here to create network effect and visibility for their products. But don’t mistake this site as a mere tool for inventory listing. The social part makes the business vibrant and happening as buyers search brand inventories, check product availability and create wish lists (a list of things they like) to purchase at a later date. They can even ‘reserve’ product/s from a specific retailer and will get notified within hours about the availability. Moreover, the brands registered with the start-up get access to customers’ wish lists and consequently, some valuable insights into customer requirements. That’s certainly a lot more than traditional recommendation sites like Pinterest offers. Here is a snapshot that captures 3otherthings’ vision and viability.

Who runs 3otherthings.com: A team of three with global exposure and in-depth knowledge in product management & retail technology, luxury retail and business strategy. CEO and co-founder Manoj Shinde is a Science major and holds an MBA in Marketing & Strategic Management from Pune University. He has 14 years of experience and earlier worked with Adidas, QuikSilver Inc, Reebok (USA) and Reliance Brands (India) on leadership assignments.

Chief marketing officer Darshana Gajare is a graduate in Design and Entrepreneurship from London College of Fashion. Prior to co-founding 3otherthings, she was with Burberry London, ASuitThatFits.com, La Geneve North, Chemistry and DIESEL. The third co-founder is Abhijit Nair who is also the chief technology officer. He is a computer engineer with more than 5 years of experience and earlier co-founded a company called Pyxis Architects.

What inspired the venture: The idea came along around 3 years ago when Manoj was working on the augmented reality concept at Adidas on bridging the physical and online store experience to solve customer issues such as product search, colour, size and location. “In that mix, I essentially wanted to save time and hassle for all those generic problems that many of us face while shopping,” he recalls. “Those problems paved a way for me to look at various channels to resolve my personal shopping frustrations. And somewhere down the line, the business ideas that solve those problems started taking shape,” he adds.

Why this offbeat name: No wonder it makes you curious. In essence, the name tells you what shopping is all about – product, price and location are the three other things involved in any shopping experience. In the start-up’s context, it also stands for convenience, consumer experience and consumer gratification. Hence, 3otherthings.

What’s the pitch: An omni-channel social discovery platform that is bridging online and offline retail experience. It allows buyers to search for lifestyle products, either from e-tailers or from brick-and-mortar stores near them, thus generating market demand, in-store experience and business intelligence via a unified interface.

The USP: Unlike other social discovery platforms or recommendation sites, 3otherthings is helping offline retailers fight the trend called showrooming where customers visit brick-and-mortar stores to check out products and then go online to find better deals.

“To reverse this trend, we are supporting a wider phenomenon called ‘reverse showrooming’ where consumers search or browse products online and then enter the physical shop to make a purchase,” explains Manoj. According to him, the platform is a lifesaver for offline retailers in three ways. First, it offers the same convenience (enjoyed by e-commerce stores) when it comes to searching the physical store products online. Second, it makes their products viral and creates manifold visibility. Finally, it frees up offline retailers’ marketing budget, which was essentially handcuffed by traditional mediums such as magazines and newspaper to create product visibility without any measurement.

How it works: Unlike other services like Wanelo or Polyvore where ‘trending’ and popular products are ranked to help drive e-commerce sales, 3otherthings focuses more on making a customer’s shopping journey easier. Here, one can access the inventory of nearby brick-and-mortar stores, along with curated and emotionally appealing products to choose from. You can either create a social wish list containing all your favourite items from any online/offline store in just one click or reserve items from local stores and buy those at your convenience. You can also style your own outfit, seek styling help and give style tips.

Claim to fame: The platform is defined as an (aggregated) gateway to all lifestyle shopping and was first soft-launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York this year. But the founders believe that the real claim to fame lies in changing the way online advertising is done today. People are already distancing themselves from clunky banner ads and it is becoming imperative to offer some kind of experience to customers before they buy an item. So adding contextual product discovery could change the game entirely. “By bringing offline inventory online, the platform has given more power to consumers. However, this omni-channel solution has also given a big tool to retailers to capture consumer insights, offer personalised clienteling experience and measure product campaigns for their offline products,” says Manoj.

Show me the money: The company is currently bootstrapped and its revenue stream is based on the monthly subscription model for retailers where they get ‘Click and Brick’ service, SKU-level consumer insights and comparative analytics. The platform, however, remains free for consumers.

Although the site is just a month old, quite a few top retailers have joined the platform. These include Forever New, Pepe, Being Human, RIOT and some classy boutique décor stores such as Tangent and Mozaic. “Our current focus is on creating user engagement and bringing more brands on board to really become the most valuable platform from a customer’s perspective. This done, money will follow,” adds Manoj.

Biggest challenge: Gaining traction and building a really large customer base. Social commerce thrives on product curation by users – so growing the user base is the key focus area. Reaching out to non-metro cities and brining more brands on board are equally important. But the biggest challenge for e-commerce (or even for offline retail) is discovery, says Manoj. “I would spend so much more money if someone would just show me more things I’d love to buy. So we are working upon enhancing discovery and fine-tuning consumer experience.”